William Michael
Harnett,After the Hunt (detail),1884, The Butler
Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio

In
the 1880s Harnett spent six years in Europe, studying old
master still-life painting. In Munich, he was exposed to the photographs
by Adolphe Braun. Braun's flat, textured pictures of dead game, hunting
implements, and horns suspended against a textured wall would have a profound
effect on Harnett's work.